The kitchen is almost there! (Its KILLING me!)

So I'm getting a lot of "Are you open yet?" calls and messages! That is a good thing BUT it is taking WAY longer than we thought to get this kitchen permitted and that's a bad thing! That means there have been some unexpected expenses, and that means I am not making any money to cover those costs while my truck sits out back!

I think we will have been through at least SIX inspections before we get to serve out of the truck again (To be clear, we are only going to operate the truck for a bit. We will need more funds to open the kitchen as a restaurant.), and I feel like almost every single one has had something that they want us to change (costs $) and that is what is taking so long! Some things have been an easy fix, maybe just a phone call, and some things have been a major pain that makes no sense! If the code hasn't changed in the 7-8 years since the place was open then why is 'this, that, and the other thing' unacceptable now!?! Don't these people understand that not only does the fixing cost me, but the delay in opening is killing my business?! It has gotten to the point where we are starting to ask ourselves if there is some kind of kickback the inspectors get for every case they delay. I really hope none of them put struggling small business owners through H - E - double hockey sticks for their own sick pleasure! That's how it feels by now though...

So it is not the health department that is tripping us up, it is all the other departments! We have had to submit for plan review to the health department and the fire marshal, then we have had a building rough inspection for the counter/wall, as well as an electrical rough for the two outlets we had put in it. We had a hiccup with the electrical so that has delayed the building final AND the fire marshal didn't want to be left out so we have some EXISTING stuff that we have to pay to change to make him happy so we can get our certificate. THEN we can get the health department in there!

So I know some of you have called and heard me say, "We hope to be ready in the next couple of weeks." for about 2 months now! I am sorry we have underestimated the difficulty and therefore the timeline for getting our new place permitted! I still hope to have our permit by the week after Thanksgiving, but at this point it is hard to be optimistic! All of this is the reason we have not felt confident enough to project our re-opening date for the truck. I think its safe to say that it will be some time before Christmas (eek!).